Daily Comment on News and Issues of Interest to Michigan Lawyers

Practice Management

02/09/2012

Clio, the web based practice management application, is consistently adding and improving the functionality of the application. They recently made several improvements to the calendar functions. One that is especially useful is the ability to add the statute of limitations date to a matter. You can also have the system remind you of a date by either email or a popup. Clio also has added the ability to have all statute of limitation dates that you have set viewed in your monthly calendars. Review the Clio announcement of the new calendar features and explore how they might be useful in your firm. Spend some time learning how to implement adding the statute of limitations date to a matter and set up the auto reminders. This new feature could help save you from a very serious oversight!

02/03/2012

Randall Ryder, writing for Lawyerist.com, makes an excellent case for investing in a Dymo LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo Printer. These handy label printers can be used in a variety of ways to increase the efficiency in your office. The 450 Twin Turbo prints both address labels and postage labels. There are a lot of uses for these handy little printers. Some offices have a label printer set up to print appointment reminder labels--print a label with the date and time of the client’s next appointment, stick it on the back of a business card and give it to the client as the appointment reminder. Having a quick way to create file labels will increase the likelihood that files are properly labeled as they are created. The ROI is measured in efficiency and saves your regular printer from damage when label printing goes bad.

01/31/2012

Every week someone has done something which helped, motivated or touched you. Send them an old fashioned snail mail note to thank them! Make it a Friday afternoon, winding-down-the-week scheduled task. If you encountered someone who needs encouragement, send them a note. If the court clerk was especially helpful or the security guard at the court house extended you a helping hand, send them a note. Ending your week with a random act of kindness is uplifting and good marketing!

01/27/2012

Jim Calloway’s column, Sites for Sore Eyes, in the latest GPSOLO eReport entitled Beyond the Basics of Google, is guaranteed to provide every reader with an "Ah Ha" moment. This article not only points out some of the most often overlooked features of Google that everyone can use, but also provides tips designed specifically to help attorneys make the most of Google. Google Alerts, Google Scholar and Google Patents are all covered in this lively article.

Did you know that you can make sure your firm appears in the results of a Google search for “attorney + your zip code”? Read this column to learn how to maximize this Google marketing tool for your firm so you can reap the dividends.

01/18/2012

Gizmo is a website that reviews and rates some of the best free applications available.It also provides articles, tutorials and user guides.There are recommendations for applications that are available for productivity, security, education, and just plain fun.You can sign up to receive their newsletter or subscribe to their RSS feed so that you never miss the news about free applications that can help boost your productivity,protect your data,and provide some stress relief.

12/15/2011

If you are a fan of Google Chrome and PDFs, you may have experienced a high level of frustration when trying to work with them together. Rick Borstein, author of the blog “Acrobat for Legal Professionals” has a new post which will show you how to enhance the Chrome-PDF experience. He describes how to turn off Chrome’s built-in PDF viewer and replace it with Adobe Reader or your version of Acrobat. The post also outlines the steps needed to improve printing PDF files from Chrome. The instructions are precise, well illustrated and easy to follow.

12/08/2011

Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson have created the 49th edition of the Digital Edge podcast in the gift-giving spirit of December. Their lively banter discusses a wide variety of tech items and gadgets, both useful and fun, that may help you with your December purchases. In addition to their podcast, the list of show notes provides links to all of the items discussed.

Reid Trautz, Chair of ABA Techshow 2012, has also issued his annual Holiday Gift Guide for Lawyers. This list provides some product comparisons and purchase advice. If you are looking for gifts in the productivity, food or just plain fun categories, check out Reid’s list for some great ideas.

One more excellent list which provides a compilation of shopping ideas is Attention, Shoppers: A Lawyer’s Gift Guide from the folks at Attorney At Work. In addition to looking at the list, take a minute to read some of the posts on this site whose motto is ‘one really good idea every day.’

Don’t forget that the State Bar of Michigan has some great gift ideas also. We have water bottles, travel mugs, t-shirts, hats, polo shirts, and many other items. To order your SBM gear, you can log in to the Member Area and select SBM Store or simply complete the mail/fax form. If you have any questions about the products, please contact Tracy Sproul in Member Services at 888-SBM-ForU or by e-mail to tsproul@mail.michbar.org.

12/02/2011

Do you have yellow sticky notes all over your work space, attached to your monitor, cell phone, briefcase, laptop, and the dashboard of your car? Then you live in a sticky state of mind. Never fear, there is a free application to take your sticky notes to the next level. Integrate them into your computer desktop using an app appropriately called Stickies. This nifty little application functions like a to-do-list with alarms, a memory, and the beautiful square yellow visual of a sticky note. In a perfectly disciplined mind, all of the uses for sticky notes would be incorporated into the functions in your e-mail application using reminder notes, appointments, and tasks. For some of us, that will never happen. Enter Stickies. This tiny app, contained in a super fast download and install, was recently reviewed by PCWorld. Take a look and see if this might be a tool that helps your sticky state of mind stay organized. Once installed the icon resides in your task tray near the clock in the lower right corner of your monitor. A click on the icon creates a new note; a right click on the icon displays options to create a new note. A right click on the title bar of an existing note lets you change options. Although it is not a web-based mobile app, it is a very tidy, quite handy addition to your monitor desktop.

11/16/2011

Time management may be one of the most crucial factors in determining the success or failure of every attorney, but especially the solo small firm attorney. There are books, seminars, blogs, software applications for your computer and your cell phone, plus time management specialists all devoted to helping you learn to manage your time. Who has time for all of that? If you recognize the need, but don’t know where to start, read “How to Manage Not to Waste Your Time” by Donna Seyle. Donna writes frankly and succinctly about her “less-than-productive time management system” and how she is working to change it. Her post shares a list of 10 applicable concepts to help every attorney improve their personal time management skills. It is a quick read too!

11/02/2011

By default, Gmail groups all e-mail items in a conversation behind the original email. You can easily manage the setting that turns the conversation feature on or off by following these steps: Click on the gear shaped options icon (upper right)> click on Mail Settings > scroll down to Conversation View > click on Off > scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Save.

If you turn this feature off, your e-mail will be arranged by date and time delivered to your inbox. This process can easily be reversed by repeating the same steps and choosing “On”, followed by “Save”.

Three Handy Keyboard Shortcuts for Outlook Users

These three keyboard shortcuts are a powerful addition to help speed up navigation in Outlook. Execute these shortcuts by depressing and holding the Control key(Ctrl), followed by the number key.

Control + 1 will move you to the Inbox view

Control + 2 will move you to the Calendar view

Control + 3 will move you to the Contacts view

A more complete list of control key shortcuts is easy to access by depressing and holding the “Alt” key, followed by the “G” key or clicking on “Go” on the menu bar.